I was just wondering if a stage III kit from extreme v-twin is worth the money. I'll probably wind up buying it anyway, but i was looking for some input from anyone that has installed this kit on their 36 briggs..

no one on here has the evt stage 3 on a pro drive, (at least not anymore) but got several on gator tails and one on a go devil

Justin, are you sure about that? I thought sharkey had a stage 3?

Why doesn't anyone run the stage 3 anymore. What kind of trouble did they have?

Majority of the Stage III's are on Prodrives. Only problems with any of them have been the case gaskets other than that same time of problems that you may have with a stock motor. Anything can go wrong with something that is mechanical. Stage 3 is no less reliable than a stock motor.

Oh boy here we go again. Short and simple you run any motor on the ragged edge you gonna either wear it out or break it. I have seen rockers, pushrods, valves and connecting rods all give way on stock motors. I can say right now" knock on wood" that we have not seen the performance parts give way, not to say that it could happen. We have replaced every part in the stock motor except the flywheel, block and crank with better built performance parts. Therefore you can draw your own conclusion as to what motor as a better reliability factor built into it. Reliability is the motor cranking and running without leaving you stranded due to a broke part. Modding the engine will generate more torque and more hosepower which equates to more heat and wear and tear. Briggs says 2000 hours on the stock motor. Double the HP and cut the motor life in half before needing to tear it down and inspect it. You mod the motor so you do not have to hold the motor WFO to achieve the same speeds as the stock motor. Same goes with these lower units, granted the built more rugged for the extreme enviroment but lets face it we are taking these drives out and beating the s*** out of them and expecting nothing to break. Reliability tends to go away when you factor in the care factor.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm gonna go ahead and put the evt stage III on my motor and see what it does. It's only money! If i tear it up, oh well, just buy another!

If EVT's mods are just as reliable, why not offer the same manufacture warranty on the engine vs. 6 months???

I am no FE by any means but here is my take on it. I have a 35 GDSD that I ran for 1 season stock. I know how hard I ran the motor and how much fuel I burned. Now I have the engine modded with EVTs stage 3. I run the motor at half throttle now and get better performance out of it. My fuel now goes twice as far (which is a good thing buying 110 octane). Yes I do RUN it at times but to me it seems like the engine just runs easier overall. To me it is actually "better" on my engine. Sure is nice to have the power when you need it too!